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On business in US for a few weeks...family with me missing UK TV (i.e. soaps, X Factor etc!)...be grateful for any recommended - and preferably legit - sites for watching UK TV (via web) abroad from all the seasoned travellers on here. Thanks in advance, Chris
Dubtraveller - all UK channels and SKY has access to the most popular shows on the I players via www
In the UK I use tvcatchup.com, but i'm not sure if this will work when abroad or not:
Funnily enough it has an ad for the X Factor on its front page at the moment.
I use the fabulous slingbox (www.slingbox.com).
You can buy a slingbox from Dixons, John Lewis, Amazon, etc so is perfectly legal.
It plugs into your home Sky/Cable/TV/whatever and then you can watch this from your laptop anywhere in the world.
I am an expat and have been using it with a Sky+ box in my parents house for the last 4 years (with the equally fabulous "slingcatcher" so I can watch UK TV (including all the sports, movies, etc) on a normal telly.
Hope it helps
Chris
I agree with Ticklos. As I assume you have a UK home and a UK TV license, and are only travelling on trips abroad, the Slingbox is legal and effective option to watch what you do in the UK.
It supports TV delivery and control to remote PC's, laptops, iPads and Smartphones. The quality of the picture you receive is directly proportional to the speed of your connection.
The ususal limiting factors are remote download speed, international gateway performance in your local country and very importantly your UPLOAD speed at home.
Regular ADSL gives a max upload speed of 448Kb which is OK ish. ADSL2 gives you 1MB or more which is good, and FTTC services such as BT Infinity gives up to 10 or 15MB which is truly excellent and which really removes that bottleneck.
Virgin cable is also good.
The Slingbox gives you full rmote control including the "red button" etc for all that extra stuff.
Recommended.
Thanks for the excellent info to all..the slingbox sounds just the ticket...just kicking myself now (as will the wife no doubt) for not checking up on this before going on this trip..such is life!
I would be very interested in a solution to SKy News live (not the 3 minute reel) whilst travelling, especially in the States and Asia.
am going to look at Slingbox.
Slingbox is good. But really you won't miss much on the soap front - I imagine a few people will fall pregnant by someone else's husband, someone will die by foul play, someone else will return after an extended stay in South America, and the rest will have inane conversations while buying the local paper.. And I can't wait to be here watching it all unfold!
Sorry to be a bore, but technically even using slingbox is "illegal". The terms of the various broadcasters allow them to show the sporting events, movies etc to viewers in the UK.
BBC et al will not allow you to watch the iPlayer from outside the UK but happily allow European cable companies to carry all their programming. And I mean all, BBC 1- 4, ITV all channels etc.
Consequently I wouldn't worry to much about being "legit" as I don't envisage the Sheriff and his posse coming to hunt you down!!!
Living in Switzerland my UK tv is very important for me and travelling quite a bit I've been looking at several solutions, especially as I spend three months a year in S. Africa.
I've found the following to be very good.
http://www.watchuktv.co.uk/ http://www.gettvabroad.com/how-to-watch-free-national-tv-abroad
Or else just type in "iPlayer abroad" and you'll find several solutions. Some are very technical so unless you're 10 years old or a nuclear physicist forget them!
They are great for simply keeping up with Corrie or Eastenders, er, I mean Panorama or Mastermind, while travelling while the sling box is better suited for a more permanent setup.
Hope this helps.
Ps. Martyn, I've found Sky News on tv all over Europe and in most countries in Africa and certainly Malaysia and Singapore. I've also been told you can get it in the larger Chinese cities. If they've got CNN they can usually get Sky, and once you alert their techies to the fact they will often add Sky or replace CNN. Most are happy to show a British Programme rather than a US one.
Hmm... legality of "place shifting" with the Slingbox....
Maybe saying "it is perfectly legal" cannot be proven until someone has been challenged for it (which, to my knowledge and google, hasn't happened).
What is clear is that it is certainly more legal than using a UK based VPN to deliberately break the terms and conditions of services such as BBC iPlayer.
For example, the iPlayer terms state (http://iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk/help/information/terms_conditions):
--- 3.2 How you may NOT use BBC iPlayer 3.2.1 If you are outside of the UK You may not watch or download BBC Content using BBC iPlayer if you are outside of the UK, although you may listen to some (but not all) BBC radio content if you are outside of the UK. The types of BBC radio content that may be available outside of the UK will depend on the BBC's agreements with the persons who own rights in such content.
---
So that's pretty clear.
Again, no-one has been taken to court over this, but you would be deliberately breaking the T&C's of usage.
Chris
Hi LuganoPirate - thanks for your comments re Sky News. In Florida I have a home and the techies I have had out have said it is impossible to allign the dish to catch Sky News. The Cable supplier, My Brighthouse do not run a 'feed' (if thats the right expression) from Sky. The internet version is blocked, unless, I go into the internet via VPN link to my server in the UK. Same applies when I am in Asia.
I know European countries get a Sky News feed but I have not managed to secure the feeds independantly whilst on my travels.
I know Thailand for example has a connection with Sky, becasue every single premiership game is shown live and apparently for no cost!!
My attemps to log into Sky whilst I am currently in Japan
Sky Player is only available to users connecting from within the UK or Republic of Ireland, and you appear to be abroad. If this is not the case, check our Help section for advice or contact your Internet Service Provider [code 304].
You do not need to buy a Slingbox - you can rent one from thetelly.net and have access to all Freeview channels or, as some have already mentioned, get access to a proxy, e.g. tvproxy.co.uk. Tried both and they work OK, although there were some problems with connectivity, especially with the proxy server, during the most popular shows. Hope this helps.
Thanks again for the help and information.
Martyn - I have yet to catch Sky News over here in the US, which is a pity. It would be nice for a change from CNN etc!
As to soaps/entertainment shows, I could heard my wife trying to watch X Factor last night (clips via YouTube I think or maybe some illicit sites I don;t know about!, but have so far resisted the urge to update her on this thread!
With regards to the varoius iPlayer options, most web sites have varying life/longevity/performance/legality. Also they can run up quite a considerable cost over time.
A neat alternative if you are a UK traveller is to change your home internet router fro the Excellent DrayTek make - such as the Vigor 2820n. These have a built in hardware (e.g. high performance) VPN that allows you to log in from anywhare you have internet access, with a simple username password, and connect directly to the UK internet - and hence obtain UK IPlayer services.
A question that is often asked - is it simple to setup (relatively) and yes it connects you directly to the UK internet without the need for anytihng but the DrayTek router (i.e. you do not need any UK computer connected at home - only just keep the router powered up!)
the above posts interests me as it seems to solve a big problem in a very easy manner. Previously I have been able to log into UK tv sites via the web by routing through my company server and onto the www (UK IP address). Are you saying Ardmarnoch, that this solution will enable me to log into the uk WWW and have a UK IP address so that I can get streaming from the various news and sports channels like Sky Sports and other BBC channels whilst overseas AND without having to use a slingbox or keeping a computer on?
Hi MartynSinclair.
Yes you are correct.
Utilising a router with a high performance hardware VPN facility buit in, such as the DrayTek 2820n (about £175 at dabs.com - so not your £50 jobs) or the some of the even more expensive Cisco products, allows you to log into your UK ADSL router (note the ROUTER) with a simple username / password pair, and you can then access the WWW from your UK router presenting your UK IP address to the internet - so no problems accessing iPlayer etc.
A quick way to check that it works is to log onto http://www.whatismyip.com/ and it will show you your local IP address.
Log into your UK router via its VPN and log into http://www.whatismyip.com/ again - it should show your UK IP address.
Please note many UK ISPs give your home router a "fixed" IP address, some a "dynamic" IP address - i.e. it changes regularly. You need this to log into your router. If you have a dynamic address this is easily solved by using the "DDNS" feature of you UK router and signing up for a free DDNS service. This allows you to access your UK router using a name rather than an IP address, and handles all the dynamic stuff transparently.
Works a treat!
The BBC Trust has given the green light to an internationally accessible version of the iPlayer.
Likely to be subscription based.
Is it really possible to watch my favorite TV programs on my gadgets. I don't want to miss out on my favorite TV shows even I am working abroad. I have a friend living in US. and his very busy working and has no time to watch his favorite TV show. but now with the help of the ITV player or any TV on internet that can watch TV abroad, he manage to watch TV show using his laptop. To subscribe for ITV player or getting information about watching TV abroad. try the link below...
Watch UK TV Abroad ITV Player Abroad
Hi Chris61hickman! Yes, it ireally is possible.
I am in Bangkok at the moment, and using my Slingplayer I was able to watch the Final Grand Prix of the season on Sunday - with my laptop connected to the big LCD TV. Great - and the good thing is that it is the UK commentary too.
After the GP finished I then watched, on the TV, in the same way, Saturday night's Strictly Come Dancing, loaded from the BBC iPlayer earlier - using my VPN router in the UK as described above. Quite a pleasant evening really.
The SlingPlayer and iPlayer also have clients for the iPhone, Win 7phone etc. I have not used these, but am told they are pretty good. Then connect the tiny Western Digital WD HD TV media player to your hotel TV, and you also have all your films, video, music and photos to relax with - and no silly hotel film charges.
I have nearly 500 DVDs on my WD HD TV player so you can relax on the road too!
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